Welcome back to another edition of WWE Wrestler of the Week! This week’s winner is long overdue as he has become a top player in WWE recently. After months of jobbing to then-World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, this week’s winner turned babyface and almost immediately became the new champion. This week’s winner is the Mexican Aristocrat, Alberto Del Rio.

On the January 18th edition of SmackDown, Alberto Del Rio teamed with former champion Sheamus against the man Del Rio won the title from Big Show and Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler.

This was a smart booking match by WWE as these four superstars are the top players on SmackDown and in the World Heavyweight Championship title picture. In any case, at the end, Del Rio dumped a bucket of water on Big Show who simply walked away, costing his team the match by count out.

Then on Raw, Alberto Del Rio had a squash match against the artist formerly known as Lord Tensai.

It seemed to be a match to showcase Del Rio leading up to his last man standing match against Big Show this Sunday at Royal Rumble. Regardless, Del Rio hit an impressive moonsault for the easy win. Well, it would have been impressive if he didn’t semi-botch the move. A for effort, Del Rio.

After his match with Tensai, Del Rio taunted Big Show for their upcoming match at the Rumble. The World Heavyweight Champion had the crowd count to 10 with him in Spanish.

Del Rio is getting a great reaction from the crowd since turning babyface at WWE TLC 2012 and WWE’s plan to make Del Rio the top Mexican babyface that Rey Mysterio once was in going just as planned.

Prior to his World Title situation, I felt Del Rio could have changed things up by teaming with Ricardo Rodriguez in the tag team division. The division was growing and Ricardo was much more over with the fans than Del Rio. I am glad to see Del Rio begin to break out again, but I would also love to see more of Ricardo Rodriguez wrestling.

It would be surprising to see Del Rio’s push end so soon, meaning he should be successful this Sunday at Royal Rumble and the foreseeable future. If WWE is serious about making Del Rio a top babyface in the company, he may go on a Sheamus or Cena-like winning streak until at least WrestleMania.

Del Rio’s push also signals that Dolph Ziggler may not cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase anytime soon. The closer to WrestleMania we get, the less likely it seems Ziggler will cash in prior to the big event.

Alberto Del Rio has had an up and down career thus far in WWE. He is a former WWE Champion, Royal Rumble winner and Mr. Money in the Bank. However, after all of those accomplishments, he continuously lost in any major feud he was involved with. Not many superstars can say they have accomplished all that Del Rio has.

If this week is any indication, Alberto Del Rio has once again found his destiny.
Sincerely,
Seth

Seth M. Guttenplan is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and host of OH YOU DIDN’T KNOW!? PWPRadio’s weekly radio show covering all wrestling news and rumors. To read more from Seth follow him on twitter (@sethgutt) and check out guttwrenchpowerblog.com.

Seth Guttenplan is a math and computer technology teacher for special education students in New Jersey. In his free time, Seth writes about wrestling for Camel Clutch Blog and SEScoops. Follow Seth on twitter @sethgutt